Two red cards and six yellow cards were shown at the JJB as West Ham increased their European ambitions with Wigan struggling to even break down the London side. When Carlton Cole was harshly dismissed, you could sense that more cards were on the horizon and that another red card may be on the way.
There is no denying that Lee Cattermole deserved to be sent off, I think everyone inside the ground saw him jump quite a distance off the floor to go in hard on Scott Parker so a red card was the correct decision. Parker made the most of it but even if he had not, it looked certain the red was coming out. Lucas Neill on the other hand, should have been given his marching orders well before however. His tackle, in my opinion, was far worse the Cattermole's on Parker as Neill could very easily broken Cattermole's leg with memories of Martin Taylor's tackle on Eduardo a year ago a similar incident.
Stuart Attwell had a poor game on the night. At 26, he is the youngest referee in the league so for the F.A. to give him the reigns in Premier League matches shows they either have total confidence in his ability as a referee or have made a mistake at promoting him so early on in his career.
Maybe it's the pressure which comes with the job which is causing him to make a few rash decisions. His name will be mentioned worldwide, especially after the decision to award Reading a 'goal' in their game at Watford earlier in the season when the ball clearly missed the net.
At the end of the day, Attwell has made a number of mistakes and should be learning from them, if not then the Premier League is not for him. He should as at 26 he has got at least another 20 years of service in him. All we can do is wait and see what action the F.A. take on the issue which looks like they are dropping him from officiating Premier League matches for the foreseeable future.
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